1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a whelping box and more particularly a whelping box that fits inside of a dog crate or kennel in order to prevent a mother dog from lying down on her very young puppies which can result in death of the puppies from being crushed or smothered. The whelping box is a tray-like structure which has an outwardly extending peripheral flange attached to the interior of an existing crate by the use of existing fastener bolts which secure the top and bottom half of existing crates together. The whelping box is constructed of a one piece molded plastic material that is stackable and positionable in the bottom half of an existing crate and includes an inwardly projecting peripheral flange spaced upwardly from the bottom edge of the tray-like insert and spaced upwardly from the bottom of an existing dog crate to provide a peripheral protected space for young puppies to prevent the mother dog from lying down on the puppies.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An ongoing problem encountered when mother dogs give birth to puppies or whelps and are located in a confined area such as a dog crate or kennel is the relatively high incidence of the mother dog accidentally killing one or more very young puppies by the mother dog lying down on and completely covering the young puppies. Various efforts have been made to provide devices to alleviate this problem including the use of some type structure to protect the puppies or whelps during the period in which they are vulnerable to this type of accidental death. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,331,866, 2,552,007 and 3,490,417 relate to this invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,417 discloses one arrangement in which a structure has been incorporated into a dog crate or kennel in an effort to alleviate the problem.
None of the prior patents discloses a structure equivalent to the above invention which includes a one piece molded insert that fits the entire bottom of a dog crate or kennel and which provides a safety rail or shelf in the form of a continuous flange which provides a structure to prevent the mother animal from lying on or pushing the puppies against the sides of the crate. This invention is capable of being secured in place within the dog crate by the same bolts which hold the two halves of the dog crate together thus enabling the invention to be easily removed for cleaning. The present invention does not affect operation of the crate with the existing door or doors on the crate being closed to prevent the mother animal from removing the puppies from the crate and the tray-like structure of this invention can be easily stacked for shipment and storage and may be stacked along with the crate top and bottom halves for easy shipping and storage and can be used as a free standing bed or as a free standing whelping bed outside of an existing crate or kennel.